BlackBerry Pearl from RIM

Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind BlackBerry, revolutionized the concept of "push" email.

They also gave us phones that went in a direction opposite to most "regular" cell phones. They made their devices big like PDAs and gave them QWERTY keyboards to make them look like Pocket PCs. Most of the BlackBerry RIM series followed that norm.

So, when they launched the BlackBerry Pearl -- which was to have all the features that regular users had come to expect of it -- it looked relatively tiny.

Almost like a cell phone. With quad-band support and voice command recognition.

Instead of a QWERTY keyboard, the Pearl used RIM's SureType technology -- two letters on each key, to be able to fit on to the reduced phone size. Instead of a D-pad, most of the Pearl's navigation is via a trackball that looks like a pearl itself.

SureType is an enhanced version of the T9 mobile text system, and bears semblance to the word prompting feature in Microsoft Word. It's a system that displays a list of possible words that can be spelled with the key combination that the user has chosen.

Though instant email has been the primary forte of all BlackBerry's, the Pearl breaks new ground by featuring audio, video and image support. It handles MP3, AVI and JPEG formats quite admirably -- but you're going to need an extra Micro SD card as only images and ringtones can be stored in the Pearl's internal memory. The Pearl also has a 1.3 megapixel camera with built-in flash, though the camera is able to do a good job of in low-light conditions even without the flash.

Being the quintessential business phone, Pearl too continues with its able support for Microsoft Office documents. In fact, it does a better job of handling attachments than the Windows-based smartphone.

It also comes loaded with a full Personal Information Management (PIM) suite, a web browser, support for GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth, and a BlackBerry Desktop Manager that handles file transfer and interaction between the phone and your PC. The thing about this application is its support for mass storage mode. You don't need to install it on your PC -- you can just carry it around in a pen drive and plug it into the USB port of a PC or Mac to initiate transfer.

All in all, the BlackBerry Pearl is among the best smart devices around. It's a league apart in style and substance, and has a design suited to appeal to younger audiences.

BlackBerry Pearl operates on the GSM transmission service and is available from T-Mobile in the United States.

About the Author

Nat Jay is an avid researcher of wireless trends and technology and has helped people find the perfect cell phone deals in the US. Check out his latest recommendations at http://www.freewebs.com/lookfirst